Adam Bird - My Personal Blog

The fine people at Archibald Ingall Stretton , the advertising agency in which I work are just as keen on personal staff development as they are on ensuring our professional know-how is up to scratch. Which is why, as part of our personal development, they wave a carrot of two-hundred British pounds as an incentive, to go out into the big bad world and learn something new. This could be anything of our choosing, like learning how to wing-walk, speak Dutch, or cook like Gordon Ramsey. Perhaps we're away on our holidays and get the chance to learn how to Scuba Dive, or Bungee Jump – all skills that enhance our personal being, or personality traits. After all, what better way to find courage and confidence than by doing something confident and courageous? Last year, my first with the agency, I let this benefit pass me by. I decided long ago that wing-walking was something that I could put off for another day, and that Dutch people had pretty good English anyway. What I really w...

January, the month in which people are supposed to spend in a state of morbid depression, a fact now celebrated by an unofficial date that is officially known as 'Blue Monday'. A day in the month which scientists reckon that they have proven, beyond any reasonable doubt to be the most miserable day of the year! Last Monday, instead of feeling blue, Stephanie, Oliver and I decided that the only possible remedy would to be to book a holiday and give us all a reason to live again! Both Stephanie and I know that, baring any financial miracle that 2011 is to be a year of consolidation, settling some overrun debts from our wedding last year, whilst planning for the future and providing Oliver with a long awaited sibling. Our plans to slowly circumnavigate the globe, or to rebuild our home have been put on ice and have been replaced instead by the Karma Sutra and “50 Thrifty Ways to Manage your Weekly Budget”. When Stephanie's parents asked us then, would we fancy a long weeke...

Week three of the #postaweek2011 challenge and so far I've managed to discuss faith and social morality, so perhaps it's time for something a little bit more light-hearted! How about a couple of fairly humorous anecdotes about recollections of boys trips from yesteryear, loosely inspired by BBC3's fly on the wall documentary, Sun, Sex and Suspicious parents? Okay then... Before I set my confessionary heart on the line, it would probably be a sensible idea to tell you just what Sun, Sex and Suspicious parents is all about. It's fairly straightforward, each week we follow two teenagers heading off into Europe, with their friends in tow, as they undergo a modern day rite of passage; the week long booze, drugs and sex fest – the single sex “lads or lasses” holiday. Little do these innocent teens know as their (possibly deranged) parents are following behind and watching each move they make from a variety of secret vantage points. You could be forgiven for thinking, th...

I had anticipated difficulties when deciding to embark upon this #Postaweek blogging challenge; finding suitable content, making the time to meet each deadline, but more importantly writing what I wanted to write about in a coherent and concise way. I wanted to also challenge myself by writing something that maybe I would have steered clear of, by giving my opinion on something that people may disagree upon and have their own views, but then isn't that part of what writing a blog is all about? Over the past few weeks, more and more has been written about Eastenders and the controversial storyline involving a newborn baby's death and the subsequent aftermath, in which a grieving mother swaps her dead child for her next door neighbour's healthy one without them knowing. It may sound like something from a nightmare, but the reality is, these scenes are being played out in lounges across the nation on a near nightly basis and we are living through each characters eyes as ...

Towards the back end of last year, I did something out of my comfort zone. I went to Church and completed "The Alpha Course" where I learnt a little bit more about the Christian faith. This year, I have decided to write more, so that's what my first weekly blog is going to be about. I didn't say this was going to be easy. All my life I have had the spectre of Christian faith surrounding me. My mother, a believer in God but not a practising christian encouraged Jessica and I to learn all the stories, the doctrine and a hymn or two. We were packed off innocently to Sunday school each week like good boys and girls. We learnt about David and Goliath, Samson and his hair, Jonah and the whale, all those Old Testament stories which children the world over are told. As we grew older, my dear Nan began to get further and further into the church, attended regularly and transforming her and my Grandad's lives. I say that with fondness, as they changed from people who w...

A new year, a new start, or at least that's what everyone is led to believe. The truth is, we all start each year with good intentions. To stop smoking, to lose weight, to drink less, to exercise more. But in reality come Valentines day our new years resolutions have been long forgotten, filed away with the Christmas decorations and put in the attic until December when they get dusted down and thought about all over again. I haven't made a resolution this year, partly due to the fact that in October last year I stopped smoking, Just like that. No patches, no replacement therapy, no nothing. Cold turkey. The stress of having to cope with depriving myself of another of lives treats is just too much to bare! There are of course plenty of things that I could do, lose weight, take up a new hobby, do a parachute jump, start collecting stamps like Gramps, but there isn't anything that stands out and inspires me, or indeed, nothing that could change me. Except of course... ma...